Coming to Terms with Divorce Jargon

Divorce is a painful enough experience even without all of the legalese — but the jargon and technical terms are an unfortunate reality of asking the court system to determine how you and your spouse should separate. We’re here to give you a brief rundown of some of the more common and confusing terminology in divorce court.

• Absolute Divorce: A divorce that allows both parties to remarry; a ‘complete’ divorce.
• Adversarial Divorce: A divorce that must be resolved in a courtroom because the parties could not come to an amiable settlement on their own. Also called a Contested Divorce.
• Ab Initio: “From the beginning.” (Latin)
• Action: Any proceeding or filing in a court of law.
• Affidavit: A statement that you know certain facts to be true, written under oath and notarized.
• Annulment: The erasure of an invalid marriage. The only element of an annulled marriage that remains is the legitimacy of any children conceived during that time.
• Appeal: Asking a higher court to review the decision of a lower court and determine whether the lower court made a mistake in their ruling. Doesn’t automatically overturn the ruling; simply returns the case to the lower court for retrial.
• Change of Venue: The moving of a case to a different place or the placement of a different judge over a case.
• Collusion: Two parties agreeing to a situation where one of the parties falsely accuses the other of a crime. An illegal act.
• Common-Law Marriage: An informal marriage based on extended cohabitation rather than on a marriage contract. Not all states recognize common-law marriage, and different rights are afforded common-law spouses in different states as well.
• Complainant: Plaintiff; the person filing for divorce. Also called a Petitioner.
• Complaint: The legal document that begins the divorce; also called a Petition in some states.
• Condonation: Forgiving your spouse for committing an act that constitutes grounds for divorce. Usually used by one spouse to deny that grounds for divorce exist, by showing that the wrongdoing has already been ‘forgiven by default.’ Condonation generally is proven by showing that the wronged party continued to live with their spouse after learning that the wrongdoing was committed, on the assumption that if you keep living together for months after you learn about a given wrongdoing, you’ve deemed it acceptable.
• Corroborative Witness: A witness who backs up one parties’ version of a story.
• Court Order: An instruction from the court that carries the weight of law.
• Decree: The final ruling of a judge. Also Judgement.
• Decree Nisi: A court order that sets a time limit for something to happen before a tentative ruling takes full effect. In divorce court, a decree nisi is generally used to say “You have this much time to find evidence that this issue deserves more attention, or else your divorce becomes absolute and final.”
• Defendant: The spouse that is having divorce filed against them; also called a Respondent. The opposite of the Complainant/Plaintiff.
• Deposition: Written testimony taken out of court.
• Discovery: The process of uncovering all of the information relevant to a case.
• Dismissal: When the judge finds that a case has no merit or otherwise decides that it should not be pursued.
• Dissolution of Marriage: The formal term for ‘divorce.’
• Equitable: Fair. Not the same thing as ‘equal.’
• Ex Parte: An Ex Parte proceeding is any proceeding which one of the two parties is banned from attending. (Literally, ‘away from one party.’)
• File/Filing: The submission of a legal document to an official who will process it appropriately.
• Financial Affidavit/Statement: Key document used to gather information about the financial situation of each party.
• Foundation: The proof needed that a given question or piece of evidence is relevant and admissible.
• Grounds for Divorce: The reason given for a divorce filing. What is permissible grounds for divorce is set by State law and varies from state to state.
• Guardian-ad-Litem: The legal representative of a minor.
• Hearing: A proceeding held in front of a judge.
• Hearsay: A statement made outside of court and not under oath. Generally not permissible as evidence except under certain exceptional circumstances.
• Interrogatories: Written questions used to determine the facts about a disputed issue.
• Jurisdiction: The authority the court has over a specific case; for example, the Utah courts generally don’t have jurisdiction over the divorce of a couple that live together in Florida.
• Legal Separation: The legal status of being separated (with property divided, responsibility for children assigned, spousal support payments set up, and so on) without being divorced (i.e. neither party is allowed to remarry.) Some states do not recognize the state of legal separation.
• Lis Pendens: The rule that states that property cannot be sold, given away, or otherwise transferred while a court case relevant to its status is pending.
• Litigation: The process of going to court to resolve a case.
• Motion: The request that a court make an order.
• No-Fault Divorce: A divorce without grounds. Not all states allow for no-fault divorce.
• Pendente Lite Orders: A court order that requires one spouse to pay support to the other even before the divorce is finalized.
• Perjury: Lying while under oath.
• Precedent: A decision made in a previous case that is relevant to the circumstances of the current case.
• Prenuptial Agreement: An agreement made and signed before a marriage contact that specifies how property and debts will be divided in the event of a divorce.
• Privilege: The right of certain groups of people, such as spouses and clergymen, to not tell the court what a person said to them in confidence.
• Pro Se Divorce: A Contested divorce in which both parties agree that they will proceed without attorneys; each representing themselves.
• Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO): A court order saying that one spouse must pay the other a portion of their retirement or pension funds as part of a divorce settlement.
• Quid Pro Quo: Latin term with the same meaning as English “you scratch my back, I scratch yours.”
• Rebuttal: Evidence introduced by the prosecution/complainant in order to disprove a statement made by the defendant/respondent.
• Separation or Settlement Agreement: An written agreement that spells out precisely how all of the issues involved in a given divorce, including property, support payments, child custody, and so on will be resolved. Once signed by both parties, the divorce is considered absolute and finalized.
• Stipulation: An agreement that both parties and both attorneys make, most often used to circumvent steps legal procedure that both sides agree is unnecessary.
• Subpoena: A court order demanding that a person appears in court, provides a deposition, or presents specified evidence relevant to a case.
• Summons: A written document informing a defendant/respondent that a legal case has been filed against them.
• Testimony: Statements made under oath by a witness as part of a court hearing or deposition.
• Transcripts: The written record of a set of proceedings.
• Uncontested Divorce: A divorce wherein one party gives up the right to argue about the issues, essentially allowing the other party to sculpt the final settlement entirely to their liking.
• Voir Dire: The attempt of one attorney to disqualify an expert witness called by the other side.